my name is
by talk of michelangelo
Summary: in which arthur is dense and ariadne is exasperated and names are important.


His name is Arthur but when he was younger he wanted to be a Thomas, a Dominic. Something that started with _om_ so he could rhyme his name with other words. Because it's so hard to rhyme things with Arthur. But, he thinks, it's harder finding things that rhyme with Ariadne.

He wonders if she ever wants to be someone else. Do something else. Not be helper to a thief in a dream. Be something normal like a real architect, not fear about putting her head down and never waking up. He always wonders but he never speaks about it because their silence, their lack of questionsanswersexcuses, their quiet is worth something to him. And maybe it isn't to her, but it is to him, and sometimes he thinks that's all that matters.

He always wanted to be a firefighter. For what it counts, he thinks he actually could have been if he'd worked out a little more, tried a little harder. But now he's stuck sometime between now and then and he would gladly go back and re-do everything. He would except that a small part nags that if he wasn't here right now then he would never have met her and he wouldn't have stolen that kiss and she wouldn't have smiled at him quizzically with her pale lips. He thinks he'd want to kiss them again if he got the chance but he's Arthur and he's behind-the-scenes and he never gets chances because Dominic gets them all.

And he pities Dom because he seeshearsfeels what it's like for his business partner, to live in the past every single day and not be able to do a single thing about it. But Dom has the name Arthur's always wanted, and he lived the life Arthur always dreamed of, and he's the guy Arthur always wanted to be. And he notices how Ariadne sometimes can't take her eyes off of Dom and then there's another thing that Dom's got that Arthur wantscravesneeds.

And Arthur can't help but be petty and think that everything the world gave to Dom is being taken away, and he hopes that he's the one who takes her away. He can admit to jealousy, but never in front of her. She'd laugh, smile at him with those lips, and he'd probably go insane.

* * *

His name is Arthur and months later he bumps into a girl whose face enjoys haunting him in his sleep. They haven't seen each other since Fischer because he and Dom had a job up in Canada and if she went she would miss her classes. One job turned into two and then three and then four and suddenly it's been seven months and she looks overjoyed to see him.

"Arthur," she says, licking her lips (and then he can't really _not_ look at her lips), smiling, breathing, being. He privately wonders if she's the prettiest thing he's ever seen.

He wishes she was his.

He thinks she's Dom's.

And she wishes- she _thinks_ otherwise.

* * *

Her name is Ariadne and she's wanted to be an architect since she was little, when her parents fought through a dirty divorce and tore the family apart. She hasn't seen her little brother since she was seven and she wonders what he's like nowadays. But back then he was her entire world, because her parents refused to be. And he loved building blocks, Legos, boxes. He loved making things and homes and tearing them down and being a destructive four-year-old boy.

Once her little brother said, "Make me a pet store," and she gladly spent the entire evening on a single miniature building, ignoring the rough words behind the bedroom door and slapping her hands over her brother's ears when the rough words got rougherlouderscarier. And soon it became a habit. By the time she was eight, the divorce was settled, and custody was taken care of, they had an entire town of tiny buildings with stories of angry owners and ridiculous customers and families living in every single house there was.

Her father took Ariadne and her mother took her brother and she hasn't seen either of them since. But she misses him so much that it's gotten to be a pit in her chest. And she hates that that pit is being filled so slowly but so surely by a man who is similarly ridiculous, quiet, straightlaced.

When she meets him for the first time he isn't particularly interesting. Good-looking with well-kept short hair, a no-nonsense business suit tailored to fit just right, and a cocky, silent smile. Just another businessman but she wonders what he's doing there. And then he says he's Arthur and she says she's Ariadne and she notes how their names are a little quirkier now when no one else has them but them, and they both start with _Ar_ and she suddenly likes her name a lot more.

But he still isn't really interesting. Just good-looking and mysterious, as all good men are. Then they're in the dream and sitting in the building, so casually, when the projections begin glaring, walking towards them, accusing them. Then he gets a gleam in his eye that she's not sure that she _likes_, and then the words _Kiss me_ fly out of his mouth and said mouth is suddenly melded with hers and it gives her goosebumps and he's suddenly so much more interesting.

Then she can't get him out of her head. Then she can't get him out of her thoughts. Then she can't get him out of her dreams.

* * *

Her name is Ariadne and she currently is blowing steam off at a frustrating face whose denseness surpasses anything she's ever seen.

"You think I like _Dom?_ Are you _insane_?" Her lips move faster than her brain computes and soon she's saying things she wishes she never said. "How are you _that _stupid, I mean, is it not obvious that I have the hots for _you?_"

Then his eyes widen remarkably and her brain catches up to her mouth and she is definitely not proud of how she's admitted her feelings to Arthur. For one, she could have done it a lot more politely. A lot calmer, at least, and not as loudlycrudelyangrily. But his thin lips curve into a bemused smile and his eyes are a little crinkled in the corners, and then she thinks maybe not all love confessions have to go by smoothly to end well.

Then his hands find her tiny frame and thin lips meet pale lips.

* * *

It doesn't mean they stop lurking about each other's dreams, but she sleeps better knowing that she won't have to wake up and be disappointed that it was only a dream, and he finally finds that he prefers reality to his daunting dreams, because she'll still be there in reality, and she'll love him, and there are so many _better_ things to do when they're awake.

* * *

it's kind of a mess and i don't really like it but i love the movie, so i felt the need to write something.  
i might take it down later on & re-write it or something, but for now it can just sit and chill. :-)

**090410**


End file.
